Introduction
The world today has transformed tremendously because of the changes in technology. The social life of people has also changed, and this is due to the emergence of new ways of communicating. These are methods of communication like tweeter and Facebook. These means of communication are made possible by use of the internet which is embraced by almost all people in the world. The author Cleve Thompson in his book Brave New world of Digital intimacy relates to the readers how life has been transformed by the emergence of social media sites. This paper will focus on the author’s argument and the rhetorical entreaties made, like Ethos, Pathos, Logos, and other strategies used in the text. Thompson starts by relating to the readers how social media started. He starts by relating to his readers of an interview he had with the co-founder and CEO of Facebook; Mark Zuckerberg. He informs the reader how Mark Zuckerberg a university student came up with the idea of Facebook, and how it was received by students in the university (Thompson 121). At first Facebook was not much advanced, and it exposed the privacy of users to an extent that they retaliated. They formed groups to protest for the change of the way Facebook was handling their privacy. It was predicted by critics that Facebook will disappear as fast as it had started, but critics were proved wrong. Instead it grew and was embraced by almost everyone in the university.
At first, Facebook was restricted to Harvard university students. It was later opened to other university students. After its users continued growing, it was opened to the general public. Now everyone is able to use Facebook. It has grown tremendously due to the increase of the number of users. On the other hand, tweeter was also in existence, but it was not used by many users. Only few people knew about tweeter, but as Facebook grew, tweeter was also challenged and had to change its strategies to avoid losing all its users to Facebook.
Twitter won the hearts of those who wanted their privacy exposed to only few of their friends, and these were the chosen friends of the users. Today most people who are subscribed to tweeter are subscribed to Facebook. The social life of people has changed because people can socialize even with people they have never met. This includes people from different parts of the world. It is argued by Thompson that without the social media, the world would not have grown as fast it has today. Thompson uses Ethos, pathos and logos to shield his argument and to show the readers the point he is trying to drive home. The use of Ethos is used when Thompson convinces the readers to take heed of his writing by saying he had an interview with the founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg himself. “When I spoke to him Zuckerberg argued that Newsfeed is central to Facebook success” (Thompson 121).The author knows that the audience will respect and listen to him when he says that he conducted an interview with Mark Zuckerberg. The use of pathos is when the author says “What is it like to never lose touch with anyone” (Thompson 132), and this appeal to the emotions of the audience. Logos is used by the author when he persuades the readers by reasoning with them. This is when he says “Facebook and Twitter may have pushed things into overdrive”. (Thompson 126).
Conclusively, Thompson emphasizes on the idea that social media sited like Facebook and tweeter has contributed a lot in bringing people together. They have also played a role in informing and alerting people on what is happening around them and the world. Despite some people using social media to commit acts that are inhumane; social media continues to have a more positive impact on the lives of people than a negative impact.
Looking back down memory lane, one cannot help but appreciate the big milestones made in the technological field. There has been a huge transformation over the years. The impact of the transformation has also been great especially in relation to how people in societies associate with one another. Communication platforms such as social networking sites have connected people from all over the world (Thompson 129). The Brave New World of Digital Intimacy is a book written by Thompson, which explores some of the fundamental changes experienced. This discussion follows some of the arguments made by the author.One of the main ideas advanced by Thompson is that technology has contributed significantly to the growth of society. For any society to grow, flow of information is necessity. This is a role that has been well played by social networking sites. Thompson argues that when social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook were invented, people did not immediately embrace the concept (Thompson 132). However, no sooner did they begin, than they realized that they actually needed that sort of communication. People can now access information within minutes of its happening. Thompson also notes that there was need for immediacy, which the mainstream media could not offer.
Thompson uses the known social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to make his argument (Thompson 126). The intended audience is those who are already using the social platforms for communication. This is because they can easily identify with what the issues that Thompson is articulating. By referring to issues common in social platforms such as regular updates, Thompson ensures that his message is well tailored for the intended audience.
Rhetorical appeals of Aristotle have been brought to utility by various writers and philosophers in presenting their work of interest to their audience. The rhetoric appeals (Logos, Ethos and Pathos) are commonly used because of their ability to appeal to targeted audience. Thompson in his work (Brave New World of Digital Intimacy) employs the Aristotle rhetoric to convince his audience on what he believed to be the intimate brevity in the new digital world. The author gives an account of facebook history while ensuring a critical concern on the audience as the matter of address is something that the writer believes to be clear and well understood by everybody in the audience (Thompson 124). This then forces him to present ideas based on the Aristotle rhetoric appeals. The writer has used various forms of appeals. The ethical appeal comes for the fact he is a journalist and therefore talks from a point of understanding. Pathos on the other hand appeals to the emotions of the audience. This is by citing issues that clients can personally identify with.
The introduction of the book appeals to audience emotions as the writer makes an historic description of facebook as one of the social media most popular interactive sites. He appeals to the readers emotions by approaching social media via its history which many of its users are much less aware. This seeks to attract the attention and emotions of the audience informing them on what they could not be aware of an item they are conversant with.
The most common way of addressing an idea of interest is by use of pathos rhetoric is through narration especially when the idea presented has turned to be present and palpable from the abstraction of logic. The values, perception and the beliefs of the writer will then conveyed to the audience imaginatively through implication. Thompson gives a historic narration of facebook and its associate twitter from a personal perspective and implying that the audience is in the same shoes with him. From this perspective he presents the idea using know- how appeal to ethos due to the fact that he is a journalist. The whole presentation appeals to logos in that the presentation of the argument follows a logical format which involves the mentioning and introduction of the work (facebook) then a personal perspective and finally the concluding statement. It is clear and worthwhile concluding that Thompson success in his writing is out of his employment of Aristotle rhetoric appeals.
Work Cited
Thompson, C. (2009). Brave new world of intimacy. New York: Yale University Press
